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Compared to his roles in Dragnet or the DI, Jack Webb was positively eloquent playing night editor Sam Gatlan in -30-. For those of you who don't know, the title is the symbol put at the bottom of every newspaper article or news release signifying the end.

-30- tells the story of half a day in the office of a working newspaper in Los Angeles of the Fifties. The film is centered around the characters of Webb and Bill Conrad who are in charge as they decide the content and format of a daily edition.

-30- doesn't break any new ground, but has a nice documentary look to it which is what you would expect from the Jack Webb who gave us the daily grind in police work in Dragnet and with paramedics in Emergency. A bit more of a personal life is seen here with Webb and his wife Whitney Blake as they are going through a personal crisis of their own, whether to adopt young Ronnie Dapo or not.

Some familiar character players populate the newsroom here like Howard McNear, Joe Flynn, Richard Deacon, David Nelson who fill out their assigned roles very well. The primary news is about the rescue of a little girl trapped in a sewer drain. The film never leaves the set of the press room much like Dead End or Rear Window and like those films, the set almost becomes a character. But the most unforgettable characters are rich beauty queen Nancy Valentine who wants a journalism career and wants people to take her seriously and Louise Lormer as a veteran reporter who sustains a personal tragedy, but whose commitment to her job carries her through.

-30- like some of the journalism dramas of previous years is almost quaint now with most people getting their news from the internet or from radio and television. Still the papers are out there, struggling as they are for their audience. The people who work on newspapers are nicely tributed by Jack Webb and this film.

Webb stars as Gatlin, the night editor of an LA newspaper. Wm. Conrad is Jim Bathgate, the city editor. There are many familiar 50's-60's TV faces in this film. It's easy to overlook the over-acting. There are plenty of plot twists to keep you thinking. No chances to stop and think about what just happened too long. Webb also directed this film for his Mark VII production company. The direction is tight. I have always liked the camera movements in this film. Very fluid. Some of the side stories interweaving thru this film are almost too much to take. Louise Lorimer plays "Lady," a senior employee, and copyist whos grandson dies during a speed record attempt by the air force. Alot of time is spent on the scene where she and Gatlin talk each other down. It's a sad scene, with a sudden jump to another part of the newsroom. During the course of the evening, a little girl goes into a storm drain after her dog, the rains come, and suddenly this is the main story for the morning paper. We are shown how the pages are composed in an interesting way, and are given a very basic overview of how things were done in 1959.

We even get a look at Miss Arkansas, 1959, Donna Sue Needham, as a sexpot that the camera ogles for a minute or so...

If you've never seen this film, give it a chance. It's tight, and entertaining. Even sad in places.

Overlook the theme music.

Jack Webb walks into the newsroom and asks if "your boy still loves "Huckleberry Hound" He was referring to myself in real life. Wehad just gotten our first TV and this cartoon was the first show I ever saw. My father had been the sportscaster for the Pacific Coast League team,The Hollywood Stars, named for the fact that the team was owned by a syndicate of the biggest stars in Hollywood at the time. He also was the host of the show"HomeRunDerby"which ran from1959 to 1960 when he sadly passed away. I am a film composer working in LA and have worked with Andrew Davis and Glen Ballard among others. Jack Webb and my Dad were friends and my Dad can be seen in several episodes of "Dragnet", playing a reporter again and in many other shows of the day including "Fury", "Whirlibirds" and others.

This film is a night in a newsroom at a big city newspaper. It stars Jack Webb as the boss, William Conrad and a whole host of other folks. There are a could of surprises--with Howard McNear (Floyd from "The Andy Griffith Show") and David Nelson ("Ozzie and Harriett") in small parts. All of them work very well together and "-30-" is a surprisingly good film. While it's not nearly as cynical and hard-hitting as "Five Star Final" (also remade as "Two Against the World"), it is a dandy little film--and one that might surprise you. Surprising because it was produced and directed by Jack Webb--and has Webb in the lead actually plays a surprisingly vulnerable guy. This is not the tough as nails guy he played in "The D.I." or Joe Friday from "Dragnet" (though Friday could, on rare occasions, show a bit of heart). This guy is cynical but also a guy who is hurting--and Webb was able to do a surprisingly good performance in this complex role. Now the film at first does not appear to have a lot of depth--just a lot of hard-boiled stereotypical newspaper folks. But, as the film progresses, various tragedies occur--bringing some humanity to these folks who seemed cold as ice.

Overall, a very compelling film--particularly the last half hour. Very well written, a bit schmaltzy (in a good way) and never the least bit dull, this is a heck of a good film that is all but forgotten today. And, the same can be made for Webb's other films. If he hadn't been so successful on TV, you wonder what other film projects he might have made.

I have always enjoyed this movie, which is admittedly corny at times and overly sentimental. However, "-30-", is a movie that is not dull and has a lot of subplots going on to hold your interest. Jack Webb, who also directed, stars as Sam Gatlin, the editor of a Los Angeles newspaper. He's had tragedy in his life and has closed himself off. He's outwardly gruff but has a soft heart. The action in the film takes place during one night, with a heavy rain storm, a missing child and several other stories competing for the front page before the deadline arrives. William Conrad attempts to steal every scene he is in but adds a lot of humor to the story as the city editor who is outwardly gruff but has a soft heart (there's definitely a lot of that in this movie). This movie and the "D.I." are my favorite movies starring Jack Webb.